As a storyteller, you also don't want to make people feel like they're left out, like other people who have read the book have an interior knowledge of this show, and the degree of difficulty in watching it is much higher.

Sometimes diehard fans expect so much that they're never happy no matter what they get.

We all look at ourselves in the mirror and think, 'Am I good?'

I'll never be immune to criticism, and that's okay, and I'm very comfortable with that.

I'm not sitting around thinking of ideas for TV shows.

The fun thing about doing origin stories is you are introducing the audience to characters.

I stand by the Lost finale. It's the story that we wanted to tell, and we told it. No excuses. No apologies. I look back on it as fondly as I look back on the process of writing the whole show. And while I'll always care what you think, I can't be a slave to it anymore. Here's why: I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it. And I was really … I was alive.